There are two kinds of dictatorships in the region: the fairly benign ones and ones that are ruthless.

You start with Iran. Iran had a revolution like this in 2009 and it shot the citizens and suppressed [them]. It can be done. You look at Lebanon where Hezbollah lost the last election, but by using its muscle, maneuvered itself to take control of that government. …We need to watch Syria. It’s a dictatorship, an enemy state. It’s allied with Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas, been ruled by the Assad family for decades. The father of the current ruler had an uprising — of, actually, Islamists — in the ’70s. He killed 20,000 people in one week and paved over the city. After that there have been no uprisings. There have been talk and rumblings about demonstrations in Damascus. I’d like to see it.

If that happens, it’s a new development. But among our allies such as Tunisia and Egypt, where there are more benign dictatorships, the threat of overthrowing the government is much higher. …

[Another] key ally is Jordan, and they have been extremely nimble in handling unrest over the decades. Also in Jordan you have an ethnic factor: the Bedouins are the backbone of the army and state — and they will support the king and government against an uprising.

On Republican legislation preventing the EPA from regulating carbon emissions through regulation:

It’s an important issue. I think it shows how ideologically determined the Obama administration is even after being chastised heavily in the midterm election about overreaching. It’s trying to reach around Congress, around the will of the people — and Congress when it rejected cap-and-trade — essentially imposing the carbon tax on the country which doesn’t want it, but it’s going to try to do it by regulation.

Surely the bill to prevent this will pass the House. I think it will pass the Senate. There are many Democrats who don’t like this. You have Joe Manchin (D-WV) elected who took a rifle to the cap-and-trade bill. He will surely support a repeal of something that would kill his state, which is all about coal.

I think it might end up on the president’s desk. He will exercise a veto and it will be a huge campaign issue in 2012.